A Pass Educational Group wins Michigan small business award

A Pass Educational Group, LLC is one of twelve companies from around the state of Michigan that has been selected to receive the Michigan Small Business Development Center’s (MI-SBDC) Best Small Business Award. These companies were chosen from over 5,500 small businesses that the MI-SBDC provided with confidential counseling and training in 2013. The Best Small Business award recipients were identified based on their success in creating jobs, increasing sales, improving their business strategy and their involvement with the MI-SBDC. These recipients will be honored at the Michigan Celebrates Small Business awards ceremony on May 6, 2014.

“The Michigan SBDC works with thousands of small businesses each year,” says Carol Lopucki, State Director of the MI-SBDC. “The Best Small Business award provides an opportunity to acknowledge twelve of the most exceptional small businesses who have made great strides in accomplishing their goals and growing Michigan’s economy. We’re excited to celebrate their successes.”

Andrew Pass began A Pass Educational Group, LLC in 2009. This innovative company designs educational content including instructional materials, assessments, and curriculums, as well as provides editing and translation services. Their customers include Pearson Learning Solutions, Scholastic, Apex Learning, the DeVry Institute, and a variety of other educational institutions.

By utilizing technology to create a global workplace, A Pass Educational Group, LLC has cultivated employee talent from around the world. Pass currently employs 10 full time employees and over 700 contractors from across the globe. Each employee is knowledgeable in his or her subject field, as well as in content development.

Pass began to work with the Oakland County SBDC in 2012. The SBDC helped him develop a strategy to move his million-dollar business into a permanent office space. Together Pass and the MI-SBDC completed a Strategic Needs Assessment. The SNA helped determine important next steps for continued growth, including developing official quality measures, exemplars and templates for his contractors, as well as project management metrics, schedules and databases.

SBDC Consultant Catherine Abad comments that, “Andy is enthusiastic, eager to learn and has aggressive but realistic expectations for growth.” He is also a leading member of the Troy PeerSpectives CEO Round Table. Pass’s leadership and relationship with the SBDC has put A Pass Educational Group, LLC on the path for long-term growth and success.

About the Michigan SBDC

The Michigan Small Business Development Center provides counseling, business education, information based planning and technology commercialization services to Michigan’s new business ventures, existing small businesses, growing businesses and innovators. The Michigan SBDC State Headquarters is located at the Grand Valley State University, Seidman College of Business in Grand Rapids, Michigan.